4 Comments

Dorothy Brewer-Pecson
on January 25, 2014 at 2:01 pm

I’ve just finished watching your video on carbon vs. wooden violin bows. I agree with you – I much prefer my carbon bow over any of my wooden ones.

But my violin teacher friend recommended strongly that I get… an Incredibow. So I did, and I really like it! No worry about tightening/untightening it; no restringing worries, it’s inexpensive, and the synthetic bowstrings require less rosin than hair strings.

Here’s a photo of mine:

Okay, this won’t let me post a photo. RATS!!

(Yes, I hang my violin and bow on the wall. This way I have them easily at hand for any spare moments I can snatch for playing, whether it’s 5 minutes or 50 minutes or 5 hours.)

Perhaps you can post a picture by linking to it… (I have received the picture by e-mail, so know what you are talking about :)).

I watched the website of Incredibow… always interesting to see new developments… however it’s not so new as in the baroque age they used similar bows, which where also tightened in one way. What I wonder is (just my first thoughts):
– What kind of sound do these bows produce, lots of overtones or not?
– Tourte didn’t invent the modern bow for nothing… this looks a bit like a baroque bow. The advantage of the Tourte shape is that you can also bow with power and a full sound at the tip.
– I wonder if advanced bowing techniques are possible with this bow…
– Tightening the bow is personal: some tighten it a lot, some a little… depending on your personal preference and playing style… is that possible with this bow?

Of course I can’t judge as I haven’t tried the Incredibow yet… I hope to… perhaps they will be at the Frankfurter Musikmesse…

If you are in contact with the people behind Incredibow I am interested in interviewing them for Violin Lounge TV and perhaps having them send me a sample bow to try and review.

Hanging your violin on the wall or putting it in a violin stand is a great idea! Indeed it gets you to play more without the barrier of opening the case etc etc.

Thank you Zlata for your explanation. I agree with you that we need to try many bows before we finally find one that suits our playing and our violin.
I am currently using a wooden bow, I tried a carbon bow, but I didn’t like it, somehow I found it too light.
In fact before my current bow, I was using a viola bow – I found it slightly heavier and I really like it. That bow is now ‘retired’ but for my next bow I am thinking of getting another viola bow.

Yes, I recommend using a viola bow when playing viola. I think a viola bow works better to get the C string moving. A violin bow is a little to light to make a beautiful deep sound with good response on the viola.